The later Crusades

The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was organized by Pope Innocent III. The crusaders had agreed to pay Venice 85,000 silver marks to carry their army to Palestine by ship, but could not pay part of the sum. As a result they were directed against Byzantium, Venice’s trade rival, on the pretext of restoring the deposed Emperor Isaac II Angelos and his son to power. In 1204 the crusaders seized and plundered the Christian city of Constantinople. On Byzantine lands the Latin Empire (1204–1261) was founded: the knights built their castles and a Catholic priest became patriarch, but because of Greek resistance they could not fully subdue the lands. In 1261 the Emperor of Nicaea, Michael VIII Palaiologos, recaptured Constantinople and Byzantium was restored, though it had lost its former power and become a small Greek state. The last, eighth crusade (1269–1270) was organized by King Louis IX of France; in the following years the crusaders lost their eastern lands one after another, and their last stronghold, Acre, fell in 1291. The Crusades did not achieve their main goal and hundreds of thousands died. But acquaintance with Eastern culture influenced European life, the trade of Italian cities grew, paying taxes in money spread and some feudal lords began to free peasants for payment.